1. Field of the Invention
A tracking buoy to detect the presence of an oil spill and indicate the direction and speed of the oil slick resulting from the oil spill.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Oil spills, large and small, are among today's most environmentally damaging events. Even relatively small spills that normally go undetected can wreck havoc with the ecosystem. Early detection is vital in containing and cleaning up oil spills before such spills reach populated areas, protected coastal environments and inland waterways.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,936 discloses a system for the detection of oil spillage in water including a housing adapted to be disposed in a partially submerged buoyant state in a body of water and having a plurality of ports to allow entry of water and oil that is present on the surface thereof. A selectively transmissive permeable membrane of the hydrophobic hypophylic type is disposed within the housing in liquid communication with the oil-water interface. Only oil is transmitted through the permeable membrane to a chamber within the housing having a sensor disposed therein to detect the presence of oil and to generate an output signal of the oil when detected. The sensor comprises a resistance temperature dependent electrical thermometer or mechanically actuable by the weight of oil within the chamber to generate the output signal. The chamber can be removed from the detection system to permit collection of oil samples for analysis to determine the nature and source of the contaminant. In addition, a plurality of chambers can be provided to permit the sequential collection of a corresponding plurality of oil samples over time. A marking material can also be released to visually mark the spill site.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,802 describes a device for detecting the presence of contaminants, such as an oil spill, in a body of water. At a predetermined location in the body of water at least one detector station means is provided having at least one contaminant detector element. The contaminant detector element has a characteristic that changes for the condition of the presence of a contaminant impinging thereon. The characteristic may be a dimension thereof. Sensing means are provided to detect changes in the characteristic and to generate an information signal responsive to such changes in the information signal response to such changes in the characteristic. A transmitter means is provided for transmitting a transmission signal response to the information signal when there has been a change in the characteristic. The transmission signal is transmitted to regions remote the detector station means. At such regions remote from the detector station means there is provided a receiving station means which receives the transmission signal and provides an output signal such as a control signal or a visual or audible signal in response thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,034 shows a detector unit and system for detecting and signaling the presence of an oil slick on the body of water. An oil sensing assembly consists of a hydrophobic, oleophilic oil sensing material secured to one end of a rod and a magnet secured to the opposite end of the rod, the rod extending into the central bore of a watertight ballasted shell which houses a battery powered transmitter. An adjustable magnetic reed switch is positioned in the housing for actuation by the magnet secured to the rod to initiate an output signal from the transmitter. A wire cage surrounds the oil sensing material. An antenna connected to the output of the transmitter extends upwardly from the wire cage. Arms having floats on their terminating ends extend laterally outwardly from the shell, the floats having sufficient flotation capacity to suspend the unit in the water. The oil sensing assembly incorporating the hydrophobic oil sensing material is sufficiently buoyant to float on the surface of the water. When the oil sensing material contacts oil floating on the surface of the water, the assembly sinks into the water, moving the target adjacent the reed switch to close it and initiate an output signal from the transmitter which is received by a corresponding receiver. The receiver activates an audio or visual alarm.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,936 teaches a system for the detection of oil spillage on water including a housing adapted to be disposed in a partially submerged buoyant state in a body of water and having a selectively transmissive member for transmission of oil to a chamber which includes a sensor for detecting the presence of oil therein and for providing an output indication of oil presence.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,603,952 describes sensing methods and apparatus for monitoring the surface condition of a body of water including floating sensor units deployed on the water surface employing reflected infrared radiation detectors to sense the presence of floating hydrocarbons from an oil spill or floating industrial waste, sewage or the like. Telemetry signals report the surface condition of the body of water to a central receiver unit.